CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[combatwombat]

What I thought was going to be some quick, simple digging this afternoon while the toddler naps turned out to be a back injury instead. I have the worst lower back. Constantly injuring it. And never doing anything cool like lifting a car off of a baby or fighting off rabid dogs. It's always something ridiculous like reaching wrong for the peanut butter or bending over to put on socks.

 

[Lisak1]

Oh no! I can relate. I have had similar issues with lower back problems. Once I put it out reaching over to use a stapler at my desk. Now I have a standing appointment with my chiropractor and I have to say it helps - it's been good for a few years now... knock on wood! Feel better!

 

[combatwombat]

The back healed up quickly and I was able to finish digging out a few additional shelves to give the pond some more shape. Are you guys tired of looking at dirt hole yet?

Now I'm looking for used carpet to throw down as an underlayment before the liner arrives next week. Called three carpet places this morning with "Hey, I need some junk carpet, can I save you some disposal fees?" Two of the three responded with "Let me guess, you're building a pond?"

No luck so far, though. Not much on CL, Nextdoor, or FB Marketplace right now, either.

The hunt for rock continues as well. What a weird industry. There's several yards around me that sell what look like basically the same stuff, but at 3 wildly different price points. It all comes out of a couple of quarries in the area. One place wants $100 for a delivery. Another place wants $400. I can't make any sense of it. Not an efficient market!

 

[addy1]

Too bad you are on the other side of the world, I am pulling three rooms of carpet.
For my pond here I bought some cheap carpet pad.

 

[TheFishGuy]

The back healed up quickly and I was able to finish digging out a few additional shelves to give the pond some more shape. Are you guys tired of looking at dirt hole yet?

Now I'm looking for used carpet to throw down as an underlayment before the liner arrives next week. Called three carpet places this morning with "Hey, I need some junk carpet, can I save you some disposal fees?" Two of the three responded with "Let me guess, you're building a pond?"

No luck so far, though. Not much on CL, Nextdoor, or FB Marketplace right now, either.

The hunt for rock continues as well. What a weird industry. There's several yards around me that sell what look like basically the same stuff, but at 3 wildly different price points. It all comes out of a couple of quarries in the area. One place wants $100 for a delivery. Another place wants $400. I can't make any sense of it. Not an efficient market!

View attachment 134893

Not tired of looking at the dirt hole yet I thought everyone was tired of looking at my dirt hole, they probably were cause my diggin process was a lot more long and drawn out....

100 to 400 for delivery! Yikes! We can get 60 dollar delivery here for whatever you need, and they will load as many types of rock as you want, so I got 3-8 inch river rock, 8-16 inch river rock, 2 inch gravel, and a few character boulders all in the same load, if you can do that then it might be worth it, but those still seem like very high delivery fees.

 

[Jhn]

The back healed up quickly and I was able to finish digging out a few additional shelves to give the pond some more shape. Are you guys tired of looking at dirt hole yet?

Now I'm looking for used carpet to throw down as an underlayment before the liner arrives next week. Called three carpet places this morning with "Hey, I need some junk carpet, can I save you some disposal fees?" Two of the three responded with "Let me guess, you're building a pond?"

No luck so far, though. Not much on CL, Nextdoor, or FB Marketplace right now, either.

The hunt for rock continues as well. What a weird industry. There's several yards around me that sell what look like basically the same stuff, but at 3 wildly different price points. It all comes out of a couple of quarries in the area. One place wants $100 for a delivery. Another place wants $400. I can't make any sense of it. Not an efficient market!

View attachment 134893

You can try to bypass the yards and find a hauler that deals directly with the quarry. Definitely be cheaper but would have to get about 20 tons of the rock and it would just be dumped in your yard.

The yards....a lot depends on where they are located and more than likely what mood they are in that day. Probably pulling delivery fees out of the air, really no rhyme or reason to it.

 

[Jhn]

Not tired of looking at the dirt hole yet I thought everyone was tired of looking at my dirt hole, they probably were cause my diggin process was a lot more long and drawn out....

100 to 400 for delivery! Yikes! We can get 60 dollar delivery here for whatever you need, and they will load as many types of rock as you want, so I got 3-8 inch river rock, 8-16 inch river rock, 2 inch gravel, and a few character boulders all in the same load, if you can do that then it might be worth it, but those still seem like very high delivery fees.

Keep in mind different parts of the country pay different prices for the same thing, depends on cost of living in your area. Had a place near me delivery a few pallets of rock for my pond for like $30, but they were 5 minutes from my house....another place half hour or so away charged like $100 or so if I remember right.

 

[combatwombat]

You can try to bypass the yards and find a hauler that deals directly with the quarry. Definitely be cheaper but would have to get about 20 tons of the rock and it would just be dumped in your yard.

My dad recommended the same thing. Said to try to find a dump truck driver and just have them get the load for me. No idea where to find a dump truck driver, but I'm going to start looking.

I just don't really know how to buy the rock I want. Columbia River Basalt is ubiquitous around here, but I can't figure out any industry standard for how the stuff is sized / marketed / sold.

One yard sells boulders in 3 grades and they're all about $60/ton: "wall rock", 1x2 boulders, and 3x4 boulders. It's all the same basalt, but in different sizes. But there's quite a lot of variance to the size. The wall rock looked like the bigger end of it would be okay, but the rest would be too small. The 1x2 looked like 50% manageable by one person and the rest would need 2 or 3 people to place. The 3x4 would all need machinery to place.

Another place sells roughly the same grades for $85/ton. A 3rd place sells it for $110/ton, but they have it graded out into 5 or 6 different sizes, but no naming convention for what to call which grade.

And a 4th place has it for $150 a ton! They said their's is a more rounded stone (I didn't visit their yard). Fewer sharp edges. Must come from a different quarry or get mined or something? Who knows! And they're the ones who quoted a $400 delivery fee and said they don't make money on their deliveries; they just pass on whatever they're charged.

I used to be a construction manager for a big multinational builder, so I know my way around the construction industry, but this rock stuff is making my head spin.

 

[GBBUDD]

My dad recommended the same thing. Said to try to find a dump truck driver and just have them get the load for me. No idea where to find a dump truck driver, but I'm going to start looking.

Go to the local yards like where a stump dump is the drivers haul to the stump dump and drive away empty talk to the guy who works the scale he can give you a few names to call....

I love the new lines of the pond and you will too when it gets finished, nice design. Two Thumbs up know the shelf at the bottom at three o'clock is toward the sitting area but i would dig that out to the bottom of the pond and find a few long pieces of slate or similar and make that a cave for your fish . Take my word for it your fish will love it in the winter as the water is still and warm and in the summer it gives them a place to hide from predictors and the sun

If you are looking at getting some 12 inch boulders or larger then your edges should work if your looking at 6 inch tall rock by 24 inches wide then i would dig around the whole pond like addy pointed out in that drawing .All in all it's coming out quite nicely

 

[combatwombat]

I love the new lines of the pond and you will too when it gets finished, nice design.

Thanks!

he shelf at the bottom at three o'clock is toward the sitting area but i would dig that out to the bottom of the pond and find a few long pieces of slate or similar and make that a cave for your fish

That would be one big fish cave! I had a similar idea, though. I was just going to stick some 10-12" culvert pipe in one or two of the new shelves and rock over it. Using a piece of flagstone over top of a larger void is an interesting idea, too. I'll take another look at how that might get incorporated.

I thought about digging all 3 of the new shelves down to the bottom, but that would leave me with 3' tall walls to rock, and I wasn't sure how difficult that would be.

 

[GBBUDD]

That would be one big fish cave

Narada my fish cave is similar in size if not bigger and my fish tunnel is 3 times that size at least its like 6x6

 

[GBBUDD]

I thought about digging all 3 of the new shelves down to the bottom, but that would leave me with 3' tall walls to rock, and I wasn't sure how difficult that would be.

Naaaa the others look good and you should have some nice stable walls my walls are a solid 2 3 and 4 foot but I used that big a boulder to do the edges of the shelves. Honestly its looking very nice . The only other option I'd think about is lighting and some plastic conduit to run behind the rock walls put some led lighting in and it is truely magical

 

[combatwombat]

The only other option I'd think about is lighting and some plastic conduit to run behind the rock walls put some led lighting in and it is truely magical

There will definitely be some lights. Picking up some irrigation pipe today to use as conduit. Also thinking about how I might make the viewing edge cantilever just a bit over the top of the rock. Maybe I'll use retaining wall block in just a few spots to allow a patio edge to overhang.

I just have too many ideas for things I've never built before and too many details to try to manage and get right. I have a lot more respect for landscaping contractors now.

 

[combatwombat]

Talked to a quarry near my hometown about an hour away today. They sell "class 200" basalt that's a darker gray than what I see around here for $18/ton. According to them, Class 200 is sometimes referred to as rip rap and will have rock sizes anywhere from 6" up to 200 lbs. That could get me everything I need, size-wise, in one rock classification. And sure is cheap! Not so sure I'll love the look of the stuff, though.

Maybe I'll do that underwater where algae will colonize it and then do something nicer for the top course above the waterline.

Wish I'd paid more attention in my college geology class.

 

[Lisak1]

Just remember that you want smooth rock underwater. Here in the midwest "rip rap" is very craggy - almost like broken pieces of concrete. They use it to line the edges of retention ponds. But I think they use different terms in different regions. $18 a ton is extremely cheap so that would make me wonder what type of rock it is.